The present invention relates to valves and, in particular, to a valve with a special handle that tracks the usage of the valve to enable logging and billing. The valve handle may thus be used not only to dispense a gas but, in combination with the disclosed procedure, to provide a method for conveniently providing tracking of the use of the gas and subsequent billing for medical treatments using the gas.
Some medical treatments involve the use of gases that are inhaled by the patient. In the past, medical gas suppliers have charged for the gas in the cylinder at the time of delivering the filled cylinder to the user. This method has been used both for industrial and medical uses. Pharmaceutical gases, dispensed by prescription, have great variability of use from patient to patient due to treatment regimen and dispensing methods. A method of charging for treatment time would be a desirable way for allocating the true value of the product. However, in the past, there has not been a way to automatically track the duration of treatments by cylinder or to tie the treatments to the patients who receive the treatments in order to make it easy to bill for use of the gas. Such a method is provided in accordance with the present invention.